Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Studio album by Yoko Ono | |||||
| Released | 11 December 1970 | ||||
| Recorded | Late September - Mid October 1970 |
||||
| Genre | Avant-garde, Experimental, Rock | ||||
| Length | 40:29 | ||||
| Label | Apple | ||||
| Producer | John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Phil Spector | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
|
|||||
| Yoko Ono chronology | |||||
|
|||||
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is the avant-garde debut album by Yoko Ono, which came after recording three experimental releases with John Lennon and a live album as a member of the Plastic Ono Band. With the exception of one track (recorded with Ornette Coleman), the entire album emerged from one raw and cacophonous freeform session when, improvising throughout, Ono develops and pushes to extremes her characteristic trademark, a strained vocal style derived from Japanese hetai, a vocal technique used in Kabuki performances'.
It was recorded simultaneously with her husband's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band at Ascot Sound Studios and Abbey Road Studios using the same musicians and production team. The covers of both albums are nearly identical; Lennon pointed out the difference in their 1980 Playboy interview. ("In Yoko's, she's leaning back on me; in mine, I'm leaning on her.") Both photos were taken by the couple themselves on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park, their home at the time, using an Instamatic camera.
Initially on Apple Records, through EMI, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was released to considerable critical disdain in 1970, at a time when Ono was being widely blamed for the break-up of The Beatles. Notable exceptions were the estimations of Billboard who called it 'visionary' and critic Lester Bangs who supported it in Rolling Stone. More recently, the album has been credited (like those of The Velvet Underground) with having an influence, particularly on musicians, grossly disproportionate to its sales and visibility. Critic David Browne of Entertainment Weekly, has credited the album with "launching a hundred or more female alternative rockers, like Kate Pierson of the B-52s to current thrashers like L7 and Courtney Love of Hole."
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band failed to chart in the UK but reached #182 in the US. The album was reissued on CD by Rykodisc in 1997 with three bonus tracks from the era, and an "LP replica" special edition was issued by V2 Records in Japan in 2007.
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Yoko Ono.
- "Why" – 5:37
- An edited version became the B-side to Lennon's single "Mother"
- "Why Not" – 9:55
- Excerpted in a 1980 RKO Radio tribute, featuring Lennon's last recorded interview
- "Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City" – 5:38
- The title and lyrics come from Ono's book Grapefruit
- "AOS" – 7:06
- Featuring Ornette Coleman, recorded in 1968, predating the rest of the material
- "Touch Me" – 4:37
- Also selected as a B-side, to "Power to the People", replacing Ono's "Open Your Box" for the US market
- "Paper Shoes" – 7:26
- Referenced by Lennon during the 1980 RKO interview
[edit] Bonus tracks
- "Open Your Box" - 7:35
- "Something More Abstract" - 0:44
- "The South Wind" - 16:38
[edit] Personnel
- Vocals - Yoko Ono
- Guitar - John Lennon
- Drums - Ringo Starr
- Bass - Klaus Voormann
- Engineers - Phil McDonald and John Leckie.
On "AOS"
- Trumpet - Ornette Coleman
- Drums - Edward Blackwell
- Bass - David Izenzon, Charles Haden
|
||||||||||||||
